Who is the Most Corrupt?

I still will back Todd Stroger and the Cook County board against all comers--to pay for all their political friends and relations on the bloated county payroll, they've given us a 10.25 percent sales tax, have put a once-fine teaching hospital on the critical list while endangering the health of millions of low-income county residents, have winked at corruptio, over-crowding and deaths in the county jails--but on the principal of "Family Hold Back," I have to say that there's a lot of competition out there.

R. Brawer's posting on New Jersey reminds me of Mike Royko's informal contest one year as to whether Chicago or New Jersey would have more elected officials under federal indictment by year's end. New Jersey won, by one legislator if I remember correctly--but that was the whole state against our city!

Still, I divide honors among Brawer's New Jersey, Doug Levin's Hatchetville, who win on fundraising ingenuity, and Janet Reid's Vernon, Ca.

Bribery helped in the process, of course, as did the old principal of voting early and often, and getting the dead to vote.

Mr./Ms. Brawer, Mr. Levin, Ms. Reid, if you e-mail me your addresses at viwarshawski@mindspring.com I will see that your prizes arrive in due course.

Sara Paretsky

P.S. I removed an anonymous attack on Libby Hellman from the original contest post. I think if we're going to attack people through this blog, we have to be adult enough to sign our opinions.